Iran Nuclear Talks Resume in Geneva with Plenary Meeting
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Diplomats from Iran and six world powers gathered in the Swiss city of Geneva on Sunday to hold talks on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program at the deputy ministerial level.
The Sunday’s plenary session, held at the United Nations office in Geneva, was chaired by the European Union’s deputy secretary general for the external action service, Helga Maria Schmid.
Two Iranian deputies foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi, represented the Islamic Republic in the meeting with their counterparts from Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany.
The EU had announced earlier that the talks are aimed at “making further progress towards a long-term comprehensive solution on the nuclear issue.”
Today’s plenary session ends the latest round of diplomatic negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear case that began in the Swiss city on Wednesday with bilateral meetings between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The two top diplomats held four rounds of talks over the past four days.
Zarif also met with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin and European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels.
On Friday and in his trip to Paris, Zarif met with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius. Later on Saturday, the Iranian foreign minister had a telephone conversation with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and discussed the latest developments in nuclear talks.
Iran and the Group 5+1 seek to reach a framework agreement in March and a final long-term deal by June 30.
In November 2013, the two sides signed an interim deal –the Joint Plan of Action- that took effect on January 20, 2014 and expired six months later. They later extended the deal until November 24, 2014.
After failing to hammer out a lasting accord by the self-imposed November 24 deadline, the parties once again decided to extend the deadline for more seven months.
